David Cameron jokes he's spending more time on World Cup bid than G20

David Cameron has joked that he is spending more time trying to secure the
2018 World Cup competition than trying to resolve the world's economic
problems at the G20 summit.

David Cameron talks with South Korean President Lee Myung-BakPhoto: EPA

By Andrew Porter, Political Editor, in Seoul

8:04AM GMT 11 Nov 2010

The light-hearted comment is nevertheless an indication of how seriously the Prime Minister is taking England's bid.

He was overheard joking at a meeting with President Lee of South Korea that he was “spending much more time on the World Cup than on the G20”.

The Prime Minister broke off from discussions with world leaders at the economic summit in Seoul to meet Chung Mong-joon, who is considered a front-runner to replace Sepp Blatter, the Fifa president and is head of South Korea’s Football Association.

The Prime Minister will hope that his personal intervention over the coming weeks has the same effect as Tony Blair’s last-minute intensive lobbying in Singapore before London was surprisingly awarded the 2012 Olympic Games.

His interest was evident this week when Mr Cameron opened the Cabinet meeting by telling his colleagues that only four weeks remained before the decision was taken.

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England’s bid to hold the World Cup has been dogged by problems in recent months.

Exposure of corruption among some Fifa delegates by the British media has been frowned upon among associations around the world and could damage England 2012’s chances ahead of next month’s final decision in Zurich, on 2 December.

Earlier this year the FA Chairman Lord Triesman was forced to stand down after he was secretly recorded questioning the honestly of football officials in other nations bidding for the tournament.

The frustration among the bid team and the Government is that the quality of the infrastructure and footballing showpiece that England would host is not in question. What is lacking is the ability to convince other nations to back the bid.